The Noida authority on Wednesday said that it has allocated ₹25 crore to develop a park and sports facilities in each of the 81 villages falling under its jurisdiction. Each facility will have dedicated space for women, who pursue sports for fitness or want to make a career of it.

The move comes after farmers demanded facilities in their respective villages at par with urban areas. Farmers have been protesting against the Noida authority since September 1 demanding better facilities in villages, among other benefits, as they gave up their lands for development of the city.

“In response to the farmers’ demands, we have allocated ₹25 crore initially; this corpus may increase in future as per requirement. We have issued orders directing the staff to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) in 15 days so that these facilities can be developed as soon as possible. The motive is that people in villages, especially women, can make use of these sports facilities,” said Praveen Mishra, additional CEO of Noida authority.

To begin with, the authority’s land department will identify plots in the villages and the civil department will develop the sports facilities. Since almost all urban villages in Noida are overflowing, with a spurt in population, finding land for the development of park and sports facilities is not that easy, said villagers.

“If any village does not have adequate space for the facilities, we will make a cluster of two or three villages and identify land to develop the facilities that will be at suitable distance from the villages. We have decided to develop the facilities on green belt, so that we can develop sports facilities as well as expand green cover. We want to develop this facility as a hub of activities for women empowerment,” said Mishra.

The DPR will chalk out the type of equipment and facilities the sports complexes will have. The authority will spend ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore on each facility, said officials.

Farmers said besides the sports facilities, the Noida authority should also work on improving other civic amenities. “The sports facilities and parks will benefit people. But the authority should also focus on improving sewer lines, drainage and roads, which are in an abominable state,” said Raghuraj Singh, a farmer leader from Bishanpura village.